Smith is now denouncing Rogers, calling for her to drop out of the race and issue an apology to the business dragged into this mess.

Sex trafficking is no casual allegation

Treating the issue of sex trafficking so nonchalantly as to use it as a verbal attack in a political race is unacceptable.

Allegations about such links need to be factual, because trafficking is an ongoing, horrendous activity afflicting not just this country, but the entire world.

If you’re going to draw attention to an issue, do it for the right reasons. Such language needs to stop being used as fodder for political mudslinging, because it undermines the severity of a very real problem.

Despite living in an outrage culture where a tweet can incite a war, we shouldn’t need to be reminded that sex trafficking – a form of modern slavery – warrants a certain gravité.

Human beings are coerced and forced by traffickers who use lies, violence, threats and debt to engage them in sexual acts against their will. There’s a wide range of situations from imprisonment, to manipulative relationships or family members forcing one to sell sex, to false promises of a job, such as modeling.

The connection to Smith is tenuous

But the third-party website is a hop, skip and pole-vault leap away from Smith. Rogers' ads question Smith’s relationship with a local modeling and talent agency, The Young Agency, which has advertised models on Model Mayhem. (For the record, The Young Agency has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau).

Political ads may rely on vagueness, but such insinuations are dangerous.

Any type of inappropriate behavior or occurrences that could indicate something as severe as sexual trafficking would need to be thoroughly investigated. So, is that appropriate to use in a political ad against an opponent, when especially if it is unfounded, such comments jeopardize the reputation of a business, not just a candidate?

It seems to be taking a race too far. In a volatile time of misinformation, shouldn’t we hold politicians to the same standard of responsibility that we’ve lately been demanding from social media and the news?

In 2017, the International Labor Organization estimated that, around the world, nearly 24.9 million men, women and children are victims of human trafficking, and that population is disproportionately female and young.